The People You Meet While Traveling

The people you meet while traveling can be a major part of each and every trip you take. Often times, some of the moments that rank at the top of my memories of my trip along with the things I saw in different destinations are the amazing individuals I’ve met along the way. Sometimes these are fellow travelers, sometimes they’re locals or even hosts. The crazy thing is that these people can change your trip, or even your entire life, in ways you could never have imagined.

The Person Who Starts it All, The Inspirer

For me, I’ve always loved travel. My family always took these road trips across the country stopping at National Parks, historical sites and anything else that looked intriguing to us along the way. When I was a senior in high school, my dad and I started taking an annual father/daughter hiking trip. In 2010, we took our biggest one ever: we drove from Missouri to Alaska. It was there, in Alaska, that I first met the person who made me realize that people do this. Real people live a nomadic lifestyle. His name was Greg and he worked on a whale-watching + glacier-viewing trip we took in Kenai Fjords. He was very personable and just seemed so… alive. Alive is the word I would use to describe him. He was a seasonal worker in Alaska and then spent his time traveling. He was great at his job and told us about the animals, the nature around us and about his travels. Like I said, he was the first person I met in real life that lived a nomadic life and ever since then, that became my dream and sometimes, my reality.

The Fellow-Travelers You Meet While Traveling

Travel is one of those beautifully unifying things. Whether you’re traveling solo or with friends or even with your significant others, it’s easy to make fast-friends of people on day tours, in your hostel common areas or any other part of your travels.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”  – Tim Cahill

Some of these friendships fade almost as quickly as you make them. Not because you don’t have a genuine connection with them, but some friends are just meant for a certain period of time and you keep in touch, but on a potentially on a more surface level. Others, become lifelong friends that you have this crazy connection with. Years later, you’re planning visits or having in-depth conversations with them just like you see them every day.

“The conversations, like many others I had with people on trains, derived an easy candor from the shared journey, the comfort of the dining car, and the certain knowledge that neither of us would see each other again.” – Paul Theroux

There is just something about travel that allows you to open up and be vulnerable. This vulnerability comes from the nature of travel itself. You have to be open to new opportunities, experiences and people to truly absorb a culture and the feel of a destination. However, when you open yourself up like this, you also welcome in like-minded travelers. This isn’t to say that every fellow-traveler you meet up with will be someone who jives with you. However, the ones that do will be the person who introduces you to new experience they’ve discovered or be someone you can share these new and exciting things with. You will forever feel a connection to these people because they’re the only ones who will understand the experiences you shared in a new land.

The Generous Travelers

We have been so lucky to meet so many people who were also traveling, but they helped us along our way. Sometimes, these were words of encouragement, like the sweet letter a Guesthouse roommate left us in Reykjavik and sometimes it’s an act of generosity helped us get further in our adventures. We had other guesthouse roommates gift us their food that they weren’t taking home with them that gave us a few free breakfasts and lunches. Our friend Jenny, who we met up with in person for the first time in Lisbon was so much fun. We had such a blast that we spent the whole day together and Jenny not only so generously paid for the Ubers for the day, swearing she would’ve paid for them whether we were there or not, but then at the end of the night she grabbed our check at dinner too! Or the two older couples that we met on two separate occasions in Southeast Asia who fed us some of the most luxurious meals. Gator and Sue took us out for a night on the town in Siem Reap including cocktails, dinner and gelato after we had shared a van, ferry and bus ride together from Thailand to Cambodia. Then, the couple who had a picnic from their luxury hotel in Luang Prabang bright and early at Kuang Si Falls and allowed us to share their beautiful picnic with them after a very brief conversation. All of these things made a huge difference to us and we have a lifetime of paying it forward in our future to carry on this beautiful tradition.

The Locals Who Help You Out

“One of the great things about travel is that you find out how many good, kind people there are.” – Edith Wharton

This quote resonates so well with me because it’s so very true. Traveling is one of those actions that just restore your faith in humanity. There are so many people along my travels that have just made the trip for me. Some actions are big, some actions are small. There was Nik, a shop owner in Athens, who walked us to an ATM and stood watch against pickpockets. Then there was the man in Chefchaouen, Morocco who saw us walking in circles trying to find our guest house and pointed the way. Oh, and the man in Malaysia who actually drove us to a site because it was such a long walk. Some of these actions are so small, but are a big deal when you’re exhausted from travel or just knowing someone has your back.

The Locals Who Share with You

The generosity and hospitality we have found traveling is bar none. Salapong, a dear friend we had in Thailand was always so gracious. We met in 2015 when I volunteered at the zoo where he worked. He would let me ride into the nearby town on the back of his motorbike or to local markets and festivals and wouldn’t let me buy gas for him. Before we left, he had Stacey and me over for dinner and fixed this delicious meal for us. After work, Salapong would also give me some mini-Thai lessons. He was just the epitome of generosity. I was so excited to see him again in 2017 when Matt and I were heading to Thailand. Salapong drove into Kanchanaburi so we could hang out. Then, the next day, we went to see him at the zoo where we had met and he drove us all over the Thai countryside taking us to various massive Buddha sculptures all piled up on the back of his motorbike. He sadly passed away about a year later and going back to Thailand will never be the same, but I will forever cherish these wonderful memories.

Tessa, is a friend of Matt’s family who welcomed us into her home in the Hague. She was an amazing and gracious host. She showed us some really amazing spots, even taking us on a road trip to Belgium and I quickly discovered that she was basically my spirit animal. She’s very care-free, spirited, funny and just crazy in the best possible way. She gave us a place to stay and let us use her transportation cards to get around the country without having to pay for those cards, fed us breakfast and even made me a cappuccino a few times. She’s another example of an experience in a country not being the same without having Tessa as a host.

I’m lucky to say I have so many examples of this: couchsurfing hosts, other friends-of-friends or family members we hadn’t seen in forever, but they welcomed us all the same. I’m just so blessed.

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The People Who Will Drive You Insane While Traveling

The Person Who Has Done it All: This is the person who has a story to top yours or nothing you tell them shocks them because they’ve been there/done that. As much as we all haaaaate this person, it’s so eaaaaasy to be this person in different situations. 
The Full-Time Partier: You know exactly who I’m talking about. They’re the person who flew 1,000 miles to get wasted every single night. Then they sleep all day missing out on anything else because they’re nursing a hangover just to start all over again that night.
The Guilt-Tripper: This is the person who will try to make you feel like shit for missing a full moon party or for skipping something because you just need down time, alone time or just flat-out don’t want to.
The Local Scammer: Unfortunately, this is a person you’ll meet often on your travels. They’ll try to overcharge you. They’ll try to take you to a place where they receive a kickback, etc. However, try to take it all in stride. Put up a bit of a guard, but don’t think everyone is out to scam you.

I think Anthony Bourdain said it best when he said “I think food, culture, people and landscape are all absolutely inseparable.” This is exactly how I feel about travel, and about the people you meet while traveling.

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